


I'll Wear Black When They Make A Darker Color: A 'How To Rebel' Guide for Angsty Rich Kids

by Bebravenow



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-06-06 07:26:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6745006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bebravenow/pseuds/Bebravenow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux is the asshole wound too tightly and is never anything less than perfect. Kylo Ren is the asshole with a screw loose who refuses to be anything other than a walking, talking disaster. Together, they somehow ruin everything and fall for each other (same thing, really). </p>
<p>High school AU with bonus trope of Leads In The School Play</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. House Lights Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heyronove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyronove/gifts).



> Written for the kyluxficexchange. For some reason I read the prompt and was like THIS DEFINITELY SHOULD BE A MULTICHAPTERED FIC despite me being...me. Fingers crossed.

Hux slid out of his slouch and into position when he heard footsteps echoing towards where he was standing. He flipped open the history textbook that had been hanging loosely from his grasp, that night's reading already bookmarked, and it was easy to put on an interested expression as he stared down at the text. The footsteps turned into his hallway and Hux waited a brief moment, pretending to have to tear his eyes away from the book, before glancing up. A visceral disappointment swooped through Hux’s stomach as he watched Kylo Ren make his way down the hall, instead of the old teacher he had been expecting.

Ren was staring down at the floor, bright green earbuds in and mindlessly bobbing his head to music that Hux, for once, could not hear. His definitely not dress-code-approved boots, black and red and covered with unnecessary buckles, stomped heavily and in time with his nodding. Haphazardly shoved into his messenger bag, Ren’s uniform jacket dangled with its sleeve cuff scraping the floor with every other step.

The sleeve swung through the air as its owner stuttered to a sudden halt. Hux looked up to see Ren had finally noticed the only other person in the hall. Ren's face morphed into annoyance and Hux prickled even more than he had already. Ren pulled out one earbud and something different from the shrieking guitars Hux had to endure during study period twisted into the air. Ren fumbled a hand to his pants pocket and the faint music ceased.

"What are you doing here?" Ren asked.

"Waiting for you, obviously," Hux said, and couldn't hold back a snicker at Ren's shock, which quickly turned to anger at Hux's laughter.

" _Snoke_ asked me to come by, so whatever sucking up you’re planning to do can wait," Ren said.

Hux choked on his laughter. For a second he was swallowed by a sinking realization and he closed his eyes against it. Then the second passed, and Hux opened his eyes, schooled his expression.

"Mr. Snoke asked me here as well," Hux told Ren. Ren's expression matched Hux's feelings on the subject quite well.

"Gentlemen." An aged voice echoed behind Hux, causing him to jump. Snoke walked down the opposite way Ren had come, somehow completely silent as he moved. "Please, come in," Snoke said as he reached them, unlocking his classroom door and leading the way. Ren fell into step behind Snoke in an instant. Hux slid his history textbook into his bag, glaring daggers at Ren's back.

"Sit down," Snoke said, gesturing to the desks in the room without even looking to see if the boys would follow his orders. Snoke busied himself with his own desk and the myriad of orderly stacks of paper, shuffling through them seemingly at random.

Neither boy moved at first. Hux pushed himself forward, walking over to a front row desk and sitting down. He placed his bag on the floor next to him and leaned back in the chair, waiting. Ren hesitated a bit longer before finally making his way to a desk two desks away from Hux. Instead of sitting in it Ren just hopped on top of it, his legs long enough that they brushed the floor. A tiny amount of envy curled up inside Hux, now stuck feeling like a 12 year old in detention. It was too late, and he refused to copy Ren, so he tried to look as comfortable as possible as Snoke ignored the two of them. After a few moments Hux found his eyes caught on the ticking wall clock, thinking about the homework he had to complete that night, and he had that extra credit to finish after his science project didn't get an A for some unfathomable reason…

Snoke cleared his throat and Hux sat up straighter, refocusing on the teacher. In the corner of his eye Hux caught Ren jerking his gaze away from Hux. Carefully, not calling attention to it, Hux brushed a hand through his hair in case Ren had chucked something at him while he had been zoning out.

"As you well know," Snoke began. Hux dropped his hand and folded his arms. His fingers still itched to fix whatever Ren had been staring at. "The Academy's annual school fair is coming up in a few months time. Only this year, my suggestion to run a historical reenactment has been approved," Snoke said, sounding slightly pleased with himself.

"Congratulations, sir," Hux said. Ren gave an utterly fake cough. Hux clenched his hands, keeping his arms folded, resisting the urge to flip Ren off while Snoke was still in the room.

Snoke nodded at Hux before continuing, "It is not a large production, I have no desire to wrangle a squadron of children-" Ren coughed again. "So I have decided only a few stagehands, and just the two of you to be the actors."

Ren took in a sharp inhale, which lead to an actual bout of coughing. Hux inwardly agreed.

"Sir, that's an honor, but, well, wouldn't it be more authentic if you got actual theater students?" Hux asked over Ren trying to gather himself.

"Yeah, yes, I agree," Ren said breathlessly.

"Nonsense. I can think of nothing worse for a reenactment than flighty, overwrought drama students. What could they bring to the play?"

"Um, acting?" Ren said.

"What we mean," Hux cut in. "Is that we'd hate to ruin your play."

"It'd be awful. Crushing, really," Ren agreed. Hux couldn't tell if Ren's terrible lying would help or hurt their chances at getting out of this.

"Nonsense," Snoke repeated. "You two have the highest grades in my class, and what better way to display history than by those who know it best. In addition, your ancestry adds all the authenticity this play needs."

"Ancestry?" Hux asked.

Snoke gave a 'hm' of acknowledgment. "I've decided to do a reenactment of the founding of Naboo. Hux, you will play Counceller Palpatine. And Ren, you will be playing Darth Vader."

There was a clunk as Ren nearly stumbled off his desk. "I get to play Vader?" Ren asked, his voice thick with awe.

"Of course. There's no one else who could play the role better," Snoke said. And Hux knew, as Ren's eyes got wide and a grin broke out on his face, he had lost his only ally and any chance at getting out of this.

 

* * *

 

Hux walked out of Snoke's classroom almost in a daze, a copy of the script gripped tight in his hands, wrinkling the paper. Ren shut the door behind them as soon as it would close, the strap of his bag getting caught in his hurry. He yanked it out of the door, fraying the edge. Neither boy spoke. Hux stared at the lockers across from the classroom, not really seeing anything.

Ren walked into Hux's field of vision. He opened his mouth to say something but, with a glance at Snoke’s door, closed it again. He gave Hux a long look and eventually gestured his head down the hall before leading the way. Hux immediately followed before realizing what he was doing and slowing down to a more sedate pace.

They only got to the next hall over before Ren stopped and blurted out, "It's not gonna be enough for us to change schools. We're going to have to change countries," Ren said.

There was a beat. "It's very difficult to change countries,” Hux supplied.

"More difficult than staying here will be?" Ren said. His eyes were wild and the part of Hux that rolled his eyes every time Ren breathed wanted to chide him for being overdramatic. The rest of him wanted to grab Ren's shoulders and yell... _something_ at him. Maybe just wanted to yell.

"Hux?"

"Just...suck it up. Quit being dramatic. Snoke won't let us back out. And every other kid at the fair is going to be stuck doing embarrassing shit as well, we’ll be lost in the confusion."

"Fuck. That," Ren said. He snatched at his own copy of the script and ripped it open, tearing the pages out of the staple in his haste. "' _I will be leaving also. I have things left unfinished_ '," Ren read out. "' _Yes, I have been swept into another sphere_ '?" Ren gave a frenzied little laugh. "This? This is going to get us crucified." He waved the pages at Hux’s face. Hux smacked Ren's hand away.

"Yes! I know! I am aware! What do you want me to say? It's not like we have a choice. We could break our legs and Snoke would insist we do the play." Hux began to pace, scratching at the back of his scalp. "I can't believe that Snoke would write such garbage. He's a history teacher, and he wants us to- to tell this revisionist garbage? What, does he think no one will see though the lies he's having us shell out?"

Ren stared blankly at Hux. "Really? That's what you're worried about?"

"He’s not only having us act out these... _lines_ ,” Hux said. “He’s having us act out his bad fanfiction.” Ren rolled his eyes before leaning against the brick wall of the hallway. He tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling and sighed loudly.

"God, if only he had just made us the ones in charge of the play. I bet we'd make a much better story, not that that’d be hard," Ren said.

Hux let out a gust of laughter. "That's brilliant," Hux said. Ren jerked his head to stare at Hux in surprise. Hux cleared his throat against the longing in his voice. "I mean, it would be, if it were possible."

Ren stared in silence for a few seconds before speaking again. "Well, why wouldn't it be?"

Hux raised an eyebrow. "Because Snoke would never allow it."

"Yeah, but, why would Snoke have to know?" Ren said, pushing away from the wall as excitement tinged his words. He visibly stopped himself and darted looks around the hall before grabbing Hux’s elbow and dragging him along.

“What are you doing, let go of me!” Hux said, but Ren ignored him and pulled them out of the school altogether. Once outside he whirled around to face Hux, but then didn’t say anything. His face gave way to worry as he watched Hux.

Hux contemplated leaving. The grounds around them were mostly empty, only a few stragglers making their way to the front of the school. He could join them. He could go home and do his homework and not think about Snoke or Ren or the play or anything. He was good at that.

Hux didn’t look at Ren, said, “You were saying?”

Ren let out a disbelieving laugh. "Okay? Okay. Okay, I mean, it's Snoke, do you really think he's going to watch our rehearsals? He doesn't even pay attention to us when he _has_ to, you honestly think he'll bother when it's voluntary?”

He actually waited for Hux to respond. “No, of course not,” Hux said. Ren nodded.

“Yeah, of course not! So it’s just going to be us. He’ll send us to practice when he’s supposed to, but what we practice will be up to us. We can, I mean, we can _make our own play_.” Ren whispered the last line, as if Snoke might pop out at any moment, which Hux couldn’t deny was a possibility. Hux’s hands began to shake slightly, and he folded his arms to cover it up.

“Snoke said there would be stagehands, other theater people. They’d know,” Hux said.

"All we’d have to do is tell them they have the old script, or that Snoke was giving out fakes in case of theft, or anything! No one is going to question Snoke so they won’t question us. Hell, worse comes to worst we practice on our own time.”

Hux shook his head, went to give another reason against, but nothing came out. He stared at Ren’s hopeful face and even with all the ways it could go wrong, Hux didn’t _want_ to say no.

"There's no way we’ll get away with this," Hux said, unable to hold back a small smile.

Ren grinned back. "There's only one way to find out."

Hux rolled his eyes. "You are so melodramatic, why Snoke places you above the drama kids I'll never know."

“Fuck off,” said Ren, but when Hux kept smiling so did he. 

* * *

## Interlude #1


	2. Enter Stage Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys try to work together. It goes poorly, but they're used to that by now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even have an excuse for how short this is for how long it took me to write it just just just jdsfkal;eia
> 
> also I forgot to mention in the first chapter but Snoke's script comes from the original Star Wars script, and in this chapter Ren's script comes from the official Return of the Jedi novel.

A crumpled, yellow legal pad slapped against Hux’s chest. Hux looked down at the pad, then up to Ren keeping it in place as he stood outside the side entrance to the school. Hux raised an eyebrow before grabbing the legal pad.

“What is this?” Hux asked. Ren stuck his hands in the pockets of the ugly jacket he wore over his school uniform and shrugged. Hux studied the first page, distractedly noting the remnants of pages pulled out. It was covered in scribblings and crossed out sections and even a few post-it notes.

“Our new script,” Ren said. Hux darted his eyes up to Ren, every other part of himself frozen. The printed script, 12 pt, New Times Roman font, double spaced, in Hux’s bag weighed down his shoulders.

“Oh,” Hux said. He turned back to the script to push away his embarrassment, and in the process accidentally read some of it. Then he read more. He flipped through the pages with a numb sense of horror. He had never before felt the urge to laugh at cry simultaneously but Ren was good at inciting new and terrifying emotions in people. 

“Ren,” Hux began. The look of casual assurance on Ren’s face made him hesitate, but only for a second. “This is just pages about Darth Vader.”

Ren nodded. “Yeah, I know. I wrote it.”

“Ren, the second _and_ third page are just Darth Vader monologuing. About himself.”

“No, Padme Amidala is in there, too.”

“Right. An character we don’t have an actress for, also monologuing about Darth Vader.”

“Well, I guess we could cut out the Padme part. She’s an important character to Darth Vader but I understand we have to condense things,” Ren said. Hux stared at Ren. Ren stared back, unaware of the staring contest.

“Ren,” he forced out. “The only way to save this would be to cut out _all of it_.”

The slouch in Ren’s spine stiffened out and his face darkened. “Fuck does that mean,” he said, very much not a question and more than slightly a threat.

“This play is supposed to be about the founding of Naboo. It’ll be advertised as that. Not as your Darth Vader wet dream.”

Ren’s fists clenched. “I thought this was going to be our play. You said yes. It can be whatever we want it to be about.”

“Yes, in order to save ourselves from the embarrassment of acting out Snoke’s play. And your solution to that to stage a play having you as Darth Vader saying,” Hux flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for, covered in post it notes and two different pen colors. “ _‘My pulse and breathing are machine-regulated, so they cannot quicken, but something in my chest becomes more electric around the meetings with the emperor; though I could not say how. A feeling of fullness, of power, of dark and demon-mastery- of secret lusts, unrestrained passion, wild submission- all these things were in my heart as I neared my emperor. These things and more.’_ ” Hux looked up, incomprehension clear on his face, to see Ren going red. 

“Like you could do better,” Ren said.

The script that Hux had argued with himself for writing, the script he had to look over his shoulder while writing in case someone had silently come to stare over his shoulder at the computer screen, the script he had written instead of his extra credit project all the while lying to himself that he wasn’t writing it at all, Hux swung his bag around without a second’s hesitation to pull it out and hold out to Ren.

Ren stared down at it. He didn’t move, just stared at the cover page that only had ‘The Founding of Naboo’ on it, no byline. Then with alarming speed Ren snatched it out of Hux’s hands. Hux stood back, shoulders straight, attempted to clasp his hands behind his back but his backpack got in the way. Hux slid his hands into his pockets instead.

Ren wasn’t paying attention to Hux, had his attention narrowed to the second page, a look of confusion slowly overtaking his features.

Eventually Ren raised his eyes from the script to stare blankly at Hux, all anger eroded away. Hux raised his eyebrow as the silence dragged on.

“This is just the Wikipedia article with dialogue,” Ren said.

“What?” Hux said, lip curling. “It is not, I’d never use Wikipedia!”

Ren blinked at Hux. “That...That makes this even worse. You wrote all this? Did you copy off of a history textbook at least?”

Hux stared coldly back at Ren and didn’t respond.

“Jesus, Hux, you know this is meant to be a play, right? Something people are gonna watch? Like, voluntarily. For enjoyment.”

“Then we agree your self-indulgent _attempt_ should never be forced onto anyone.”

Ren took a step towards Hux.

This side door wasn’t often used. It was closer to Hux’s locker so he wandered the longer way around the school to avoid the early morning congestion in the halls. The emptiness of the place echoed around in Hux’s head until he suddenly realized how alone he and Ren were.

Hux quickly took two steps back. Ren blinked at Hux’s hasty retreat, opened his mouth and then closed it again. The script still in Ren’s hands was crinkling under the pressure. He looked down at the papers like he forgot they were there.

Ren let them fall. They fell onto the wet ground and quickly became nothing more than mulch. Hux’s jaw clenched, could feel his face getting warm at Ren’s smug face. There was a beat before the both of them remembered Ren’s homemade script still in Hux’s hands. 

Ren darted towards Hux, who held the play out and away from him. “Don’t be uncouth, Ren,” Hux said. “Snoke would be upset if his two stars were caught fighting over _his_ play.”

Ren halted in his steps, close enough to Hux that Ren’s unzipped jacket brushed against Hux. With one last look at the script held hostage, Ren gave an animal-like snarl and stomped into the school.

Hux let out a breath he was unaware he was holding and fumbled Ren’s script into his backpack, settling it back onto his shoulders. He looked at his faint reflection in the glass of the door. Carefully, he patted down his hair before walking over the remains of his script and inside the school.


End file.
